Equilibrium
by Lotus-chan
Summary: Cain is determined to get Shido back at all costs but his time is running out. Other vampires have learned that Shido has abandoned his Master and this grave violation of their laws has given one coven the excuse they need to exact a 200 year old revenge…
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer**: NightWalker and all its characters do not belong to me.  
**Warnings**: CainxShido, yaoi, blood, angst, violence, gore.  
**Spoiler Warning**: For the whole series. It's probably best if you've already seen it. I make a couple references to episodes.  
**Authors note**: I am working with heavy and random influence from many vampire authors. Humor me here. Vampiric power stops growing at age 500; those whose power continues to grow become Masters. The really old Masters (Cain in this case) are not supposed to make vampires anymore because the new ones would inherit a lot of their Master's power and be extremely powerful to begin with instead of gradually.

Equilibrium  
By: Lotus-chan

Prologue

Many pairs of slitted amber eyes stared up at the window from the street outside. Hiding amongst the shadows in the alleys and the darkness of night, the creatures stared at the window where glances of a desk, chair, and lavender hair could be seen. They glared ominously and a small one at the back turned to another in the group, "is this truly the one?"

The eyes of the small one's Master flashed with anger in response and their leader turned to him, "of course he is! Now, be silent or he will sense your presence. Despite his foolishness he is much more powerful than he seems. Bring attention to yourselves and he would slaughter the lot of you if he so desired!"

Cat-like amber eyes glared at their leader from his far right, "assuming he knew why we were here." The female who'd just spoken looked back at the window, suddenly speaking with much more age and authority than she had before, "We don't know if the rumors are true yet and before we can act, we need to know for sure. It is not within my nature to get killed because I was misinformed and if he is as defiant as the rumors say then this… 'Shido' is capable of anything."

The leader's eyes softened slightly when she spoke. "You are hardly one to speak of being killed by a vampire as weak as he. You are much more powerful than you admit to being."

She laughed, "Suddenly he is weak?"

He grinned, "Weak to you, Callista."

The shadows trembled with her amusement. "Age is nothing anymore. There really is no telling how powerful he is after being made by such an old Master… no matter how strong or weak he feels from here."

She walked over to him and the shadows moved around her body as if they were alive. Swaying around her in an aura of power she created simply for the benefit of the young ones and stilling only when she stopped next to their leader and hooked herself on his arm. "What about you, Collin? Is he more powerful than you?"

He snorted, "I do not know why I tolerate your behavior." He glanced back up at the window and Callista grinned behind her shadows. Everyone knew why he 'tolerated' her behavior but no one valued their eternity so little as to speak it out loud.

Collin was her Maker, but every vampire in his coven suspected that Callista had grown more powerful than their Master after reaching her 500 years. He indulged her in almost everything she wished and some said he feared her. They knew that if she were ever to challenge him, Collin was finished. The only thing that kept up the charade was the fact that they had been lovers ever since she died.

Callista glanced up at the window again as the lights went out. "How is it you are so certain this one is Shido, my love?" Collin's eyes narrowed and his aura of power flickered, pulling the ghostly blackened shadows from Callista's body and onto his face. The Shadows plunged it into a darkness so thick that his amber eyes glowed with their own light.

"I can smell Cain's stench on him from here."

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**Terms Used**:  
Maker: A vampire who has made another vampire.  
Master: Rather generic. Can be either your Maker, the leader of a coven, or a 500+ year old vampire whose power hasn't stopped increasing. (I.e. Cain)


	2. Part 1

Equilibrium  
By: Lotus-chan

Part 1

Cain entered the small shop just before dawn. It was dark, empty and silent. The air was heavy with the smell of incense and scented candles that lit the unoccupied corners of the shelves lining the walls. To his surprise, the shop was cool and Cain smirked as he looked around.

Heavy velvet drapes hung over the two front windows. Random items for sale cluttered the shelves and tables. It went from what appeared to be voodoo all the way to Indian, Egyptian and fortune telling paraphernalia. He shook his head slightly as he walked up to the counter; none of the decor had changed in over 70 years.

There was no one at the register. It was as if the shop was deserted but he knew better… he could feel her. "Lilith. Come out, it's Cain." The curtain behind the counter parted and a woman in a dark purple dress, complete with cape and hood walked out. The rustle of all the beads she wore sung from under the long coat. Cain wore a slightly amused expression, "Still wearing the same ridiculous garb to work the store, oneesama?"

The woman pulled back her hood and the face that greeted him was young and beautiful. She appeared to be only about 22 with long curly blonde hair and crystal blue eyes. Her expression was half welcoming smile, half exasperated. " Just Lilith, please, and the dress has always been for show. Humans like the illusion of a mysterious proprietor when they come into my shop."

Cain gave his own version of a smile and brought the back of her palm to his lips, "It's been too long."

Lilith watched him as he kissed her hand and smiled genuinely, "I've missed you brother… but you never visit me in my shop unless you need something." She cocked her head to the side. "Why have you come?" He looked up at her with his charming smile and she was immediately skeptical. "I see a word in your eyes… a name." At that Cain's smile faltered but only slightly.

"You've always had your way with reading people." He paused, noting the look she was giving him and nodded, "Shido has still not returned to me. I seek a remedy to that here. Something you have that may help me… 'convince' him."

Lilith frowned. "So the rumors are true. Shido has been defying you for too long, brother. I had hoped that by now you would have solved the problem. Come into the back room, I would prefer to speak with you there."

Cain's expression became concerned as he followed her behind the counter, and through the velvet curtains. "What rumors are you speaking of?"

The backroom was little different than the front of the store. The only difference was that the shelves here were stocked with various vials and containers filled with different colored powders and liquids. None were labeled.

The back of the room was covered with large overstuffed pillows and directly behind the pillows lay a raised coffin on a rectangular platform. "There are rumors in the vampire community that you have lost control of your only child of darkness. I have no idea how the word got out but there is talk of how your creation, Shido, has been defying you and even as his Master, you have been allowing it to continue for centuries."

Cain's amber vampiric eyes betrayed alarm for the slightest seconds before his face fell serious. He knew what this meant. "… and you do not know where this rumor originated?"

She shook her head, looking up and down the shelves. "Unfortunately no. Not yet. Ever since I heard it I've been trying to figure out where it came from." She looked at him, "and I've been trying to find you to tell you. Could it possibly have been Shido? Could he have started the rumor himself as a challenge to you?"

Cain frowned, "That is ridiculous. I am still far more powerful than he is and he is well aware of it. Besides, he would not know how to issue a challenge if he wanted to. As far as he knows, he and I are the only vampires in this world."

She crossed her arms at that. "I can't believe you would do that." Cain raised his eyebrows slightly and she glared. "You are too damned charismatic for your own good. Don't you realize that keeping Shido separated from the vampire community is going to get him killed? You know what the others will do to him if they believe he is defying his Master."

It was a statement, not a question. "They will find him, they will torture him, and they will kill him. Then they will come after you."

Cain's face was carefully neutral, "All the more reason for you to help me, oneesama."

Lilith passed a hand through her blonde curls and sighed, "There aren't very many natural remedy's that'll work on the undead, brother. I would suggest another method."

He shook his head, "I have tried everything imaginable. Even threatening his new child."

Her eyes widened, "Shido has made a vampire? When was this?"

He turned back to the shelves with a look of disgust on his face. "Not even a month ago. The girl has stayed with him her every waking moment since then."

Lilith raised an eyebrow, "You are jealous."

This time Cain turned sharply and glared at his sister, "how dare you…"

Lilith's eyes went from a sparkling crystal blue to golden amber within seconds, "I dare because it is the truth, Cain! You say you have tried everything imaginable in order to get Shido back, including threatening him but what you do not understand is that going from one extreme to the other will only have worked to push him that much farther away! Tell me Cain, what are you? His Master or his lover?"

That stopped him. "What?"

Lilith sighed and brought fingers to her forehead as if she had a headache. "Come, sit with me." She walked to her coffin and sat on one of the large pillows that lay at its foot. After a moment's consideration, Cain joined her.

She looked at him with her golden amber eyes and her expression was tired, "You never explained any of it to him did you? Shido never knew that the world was full of his kind. He never understood that making him gave you certain powers over him. That it meant you would be his Master for all eternity and that it was his place to obey your every whim. Why? Why didn't you tell him the way the world of darkness worked before he became a part of it? Hell, even after he became a part of it?"

Cain didn't look at her, he stared at the curtains that separated this room from the store as he spoke. "Because he didn't want to be a part of it. Shido was… relatively undecided when I made him, but at some point he accepted my offer and I followed through with my intentions."

He paused, "I didn't make Shido because I wanted a servant. I fell in love with him… and there was a time when he loved me. I loved him from the moment I saw him and he loved me before he knew what I was and that didn't change after I told him.

"We both knew that our time together would be short. Shido would grow older, age, possibly even fall victim to that rampant plague before his time… and he would die. He would die while I would stay the same. So I offered him eternity. The chance to truly be together forever… and at some point, he accepted."

Cain looked at his sister then, "I made him so we would never be apart. So death would not steal him from me. Was I wrong then?" Lilith's gaze offered little sympathy, Cain noted. It was just the same. He wouldn't have appreciated any form of pity, especially from his older sister. But her gaze also urged him to continue before she added anything to what he'd said.

So he frowned, "What more do you want me to say? Shido was not ready to become a part of our world so quickly. Even after becoming a vampire, Shido was more human than most humans. He would never understand our ways, might not want to understand and that would be a weakness that others would prey upon. I could not allow his own naivety and sense of humanity to be what killed him. It was…" he paused, mulling over the weakness in his words.

Shaking his head, he decided to admit it anyway. His sister would feel his emotions no matter what words he chose to express them with, "It was that naivety, that innocence, that spark of life even as he stared darkness in the face that attracted me to him. After so many centuries of seeing other vampires express the same dull and defeated view towards eternity, Shido was much like a breath of fresh air."

He closed his eyes as the memories returned to him, "At first he indulged with me in all the pleasures and privileges offered to our kind. He was fascinated by his new life and eager to learn what I could teach him." As Cain spoke, his voice began to carry a nostalgic note to it that was not lost on his sister.

"Our first few years he hunted without regret… but after the death of his mother and sister, he was a different man. Shido was forced to accept what he was but he refused to become a part of the darkness. He would not kill, refused to hunt unless it was the willing and if there were no willing, he would go hungry."

He glanced at his sister but her expression remained unchanged, "I knew I couldn't keep him from the others forever and I tried to make him accept the world he lived in. Little by little I tried _forcing_ him to accept the way our world truly worked so he would not be unprepared when he came face to face with it." Cain sighed, "He stubbornly refused my truth… and left."

Lilith nodded, "I think I understand now. You never told him about our world in order to protect him from it. It was very noble of you… but I am not sure how wise of you it was."

Cain nodded once, "I understand my mistake but the damage has been done…"

She interrupted him with a severe expression, "that was not your only mistake, my brother. Now I understand that you were trying to be both. Shido's lover and his Master. That was your biggest mistake."

Cain sat back and his expression was unreadable. He paused a moment and then, "go on." Lilith nodded and pulled a ribbon from somewhere within her sleeve. She began to speak as she tied her hair back in a lose pony tail, noting with hidden wonder that doing this in front of her brother made her feel as if she were staring into a mirror.

"Shido is not like other vampires. That we mostly owe to you, and if he had been then there would not have been anything wrong with the way you handled Shido in the past. But you offered Shido immortality in order for the two of you to be together. You said yourself you did not make him to be your slave. You offered him your love for an eternity,"

She smiled slightly, "surprisingly romantic of my brother… but when you made him, by default you became his Master. What probably drew Shido away from you was your trying to be both. Loving Shido meant sharing and understanding; loving, compromising. It meant that both his and your happiness was important. When you are Master and Vampire however, none of that matters.

"As Master and Vampire, your word is law and he is to obey you unconditionally. Despite your intentions, forcing our laws and your beliefs onto Shido when you had offered him love and compromise would have angered even me. As his Master, you wanted to control him and he did not understand that because you never explained it to him."

When she looked up, Cain's eyes were distant and she still couldn't read his face. "Brother, you need to bring Shido to his senses. Whether you do it as his lover or his Master it must be done quickly before the covens decide they have waited long enough. But no matter what you do, you must choose to be one or the other. It may be the best way to solve this problem. Are you listening to me, Cain?"

Cain turned to her slowly. His amber eyes flickered, holding a weight and depth to them. A weight of power and age. For just one moment, Cain looked every bit as old as he was. Not in the face that still held the same youthful beauty he had died with but in his eyes, which had seen far more than anything living… or dead, had a right to.

"If I choose the part of lover, Shido may not accept me. He is stubborn and childish in his naivety at times. Our encounter with the blind woman many years ago only proved to me that he is little inclined to believe anything I say." Thunder clapped outside as rain began to fall. Lilith sighed and stood.

Looking down at him she asked, "How much do you love him?"

Cain looked taken aback. "What kind of question is that?"

"I'll ask again, how much do you love him?"

Cain frowned, "I love him enough to still be pursuing him after over 200 years of his having left me."

She nodded solemnly, "Then fight for his love. Tell him the truth. Tell him everything you had denied him the knowledge of up to this point and if he still refuses you…" She looked to her coffin, obviously not liking what she was about to say.

"…then you have no choice but to play Master. You created Shido. Under our laws, he belongs to you. You will have to claim what is yours in order to protect him; to keep him from being killed."

Cain stood up and stared at her, "He will hate me for the rest of his eternity."

Lilith folded her arms under her breasts and still did not look at him. "I know." For the first time in centuries she felt the human need for physical contact. She wanted to hold her brother and tell him it would be alright. The thought scared her more than it gave her comfort. She didn't even know how Cain would react if she tried and the knowledge improved her mood very little. She had been dead for far too long…

"I will support you no matter what your decision, oniisan. Know that I'll be here if you need me for anything." Cain nodded, sensing more than she knew.

"Then I must hurry." He moved forward and took her into his arms. Her eyes widened and she froze at the contact for a few brief moments before finally returning it. A small smile played at her lips. She had forgotten what it felt like.

Cain grinned when he felt her respond and not push away. She was not the only one who had been gifted at reading people. "This is between you and I, oneesama. I would appreciate the other covens fear me in place of knowing I still hug my older sister." She laughed and backed away, grinning mischievously.

"Do not worry, I plan to spread the word that you are enraged at hearing the rumor. Many of the covens in the city are still fairly new, little over 120 years old; the newly dead. They will fear the wrath of a Master Vampire. It will buy you time, Cain." He nodded and turned to go.

"Wait, why don't you rest here for the day?" Cain raised a delicate eyebrow as he looked over his shoulder at her. Lilith's mischievous grin grew wider as she inched her way back to the shelves, "I think I may be able to find something you will be interested in after all…"

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"Don't worry Shido! I'll be back before the sky clears!" Riho yelled as she ran down the hall with her umbrella. No matter how Shido insisted it was safer for her to remain inside and within a coffin during the daylight hours, she loved to experience what little of the day she could.

Shido ran to the door and caught her just as she reached the stairs. "Riho! You've barely been dead a month! It's not sa…"

Riho turned, placing her hands on her hips. "I still don't see what age has to do with it. I've gone out in the rain before and I'm fine." Thunder clapped outside, bringing her attention to a window across the hall. "If I don't hurry I won't be out for long!" and with that she ran down the stairs.

Shido raised a hand and was going to plead with her further when she finally fell out of sight. He dropped his hand and sighed, letting her go. Closing the door behind him, he walked to the window behind his desk. Shido watched as Riho left the building and turned to wave at him from the street below, knowing he'd be there watching.

He waved back with a smile and watched until she disappeared into the park. Maybe he _was_ worrying too much. Riho had not been dead long after all, and still had to get used to the idea. His smile died on his lips as he mused that he knew all too well what it was like to have to give up the day… and learn to fear it.

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Riho walked through the park on the same paved trail she always took. It was her favorite because it took her all the way around the park and still did not stray far from Shido's detective agency. She walked on the path, watching a couple of kids about her age who had snuck out of their homes and were playing in the puddles near an apartment complex across the street from the park.

She had the sudden urge to join them but glancing up at the sky and noting a pocket of light opening between the rain clouds, she hesitated and drew herself under the trees for protection. Under the slight shadows, she watched as a woman who could only be their mother ran into the rain with an umbrella, yelling reprovingly at the two boys as she ushered them back inside.

Riho watched the scene with a sense of melancholy and turned away, straying from the path to walk under the trees. She sighed and began to reminisce dispiritedly about what life had been like when she still had her own parents... A disembodied shadow moved against a tree out of the corner of her eye and she whirled… to find nothing there.

Riho frowned, "Is anybody here?" She felt a sudden presence behind her and turned again… and still couldn't see anyone. Something made her look up and sitting on a branch in the tree in front of her was a 13 year old boy.

He looked at her funny, "What are you doing out in the rain? Don't ya know it's not safe to be under a bunch of trees in a lightning storm?" Riho almost laughed, both with relief and at his words.

"I should ask you the same question." She said. The kid smirked. He had short cropped brown hair and hazel eyes. He did not look Japanese in the slightest sense.

"I don't really care about that. I look after myself and I don't think I'll get hit by lightning any time soon." He nodded toward the large buildings in the city. "They have lightning rods, they'll get hit first."

She looked at him curiously, "You look after yourself? Where are your parents?"

He frowned almost stubbornly down at her, "I don't have any. I've been looking after myself for years. What's it to ya?"

She smiled slightly, "I didn't mean anything by it. You see, I don't have any parents either." He raised an eyebrow. Her smile became more gentle, as if she'd found a sense of kinship with the boy, "You want to walk with me?"

At that the kid smirked again and jumped down off the branch to land in a puddle. He was already soaking wet and the splash only served to make his jeans even muddier. Riho was mercifully out of splash range. He walked under her umbrella and pulled her deeper into the trees, "My name's Quinlan."

She looked at him with some surprise, "I've never heard that name before. Are you American?" The boy grinned and shook his head, "it's Gaelic and means 'very strong'. It's the only reason I've kept it."

She smiled again. "I've never heard a Gaelic name before, where are you from?" He stopped grinning and looked straight ahead, "far away."

Thunder clapped and Riho noticed with some relief that the sky seemed to be darkening with the evening and the heavier rainfall still to come. "Maybe we should go back to the trails now…" she stopped when Quinlan grabbed her hand in a powerful grip; the hand that was holding onto the umbrella.

"You can't go." Riho looked at him a little confused. His whole demeanor had changed. He was staring at her with a very determined expression, almost as if he believed what he said was a command that she was supposed to obey.

It made Riho frown, "what do you mean 'I can't go?'" The steely grip on her hand tightened and she gasped. "What are you doing?"

"Where is your Master, Riho?" Now she was thoroughly confused, "What are you talking… how did you know my name?" He shook her and it was with much greater force than any 13 year old boy had any right to possess, "I asked you where Shido was, young one!"

Riho had had enough. She called to her darkness and her eyes became as amber as the forbidden sun. She was about to try forcing her hand out of his grip and was treated to the shock of her afterlife. Quinlan's eye's slitted and became a golden reflection of hers.

Within mere seconds he had forced her against a tree, arms pinned behind her back and a blade made entirely of his own blood pressed against her delicate throat. Her heartbeat and breathing quickened within her newly dead body and she stared at the boy with wide horrified eyes, "how…"

"Silence! Answer my questions, Riho. We know Shido made you; we've been watching you for nights. How many more of you has he made?" She tried shaking her head but it caused his blade to nick her slightly. She winched and stilled. Quinlan watched as a tiny rivulet of blood escaped the small wound and ran down her pale neck.

Her voice shook as she answered, "Shido hasn't made anybody else!"

He looked up at her and asked again, "Where is he? Is he still in that building? Did he not come out with you?"

She swallowed hard. "How are you doing this? Why can't I move? Who are you!" He grinned and leaned back out of her face but never removed any of the pressure off her. He was barely as tall as she was; reaching only to about her chin but the aura of power he had to him defeated any sense of superiority she might've had with mortal age or height.

"I will forgive your impertinence this once because it is so fun to tease the newly dead. I can overpower you because I am 200 years your senior." He shrugged, "I just happened to have died at 13." If it was possible, Riho's eyes widened even further.

Now she was well and truly terrified, "Why are you doing this?"

He frowned. Her questions were annoying him, "Because Collin has taken offense to your Master's defiance of our laws, and he ordered the two of you were to be disposed of." Quinlan took a moment to revel in her fear after he said that. The fear she felt was so raw and unchecked that it perfumed the air and caressed his aura in tantalizing waves.

"W-who is Collin?" Her persistent questions should've annoyed him but this time he laughed. He could suddenly feel her intentions. She was stalling. She knew what was coming. He opened nearly dazed, power heavy golden eyes to her fear filled ones and said, "Collin is the Master of my coven. He is not my Maker but he is the oldest so his word is law." Riho opened her mouth again to say something else and Quinlan backhanded her with the same hand that held his dagger.

"Silence!" His patience had worn thin, if he still did not get a straight answer out of her after one last time, he could at least say he tried. Collin could go to hell if he didn't like it. "I will ask you a final time. Is Shido out in this storm or did he stay within the building? It is really only a simple answer and would make it so much easier for us. There really is no need for all of these theatrics."

He spoke it in a soft tone, trying to coax an answer out of her. Riho gritted her teeth against the pressure of the blade as it returned to her neck. Bloody tears escaped her eyes, trailing down her cheeks and staining her pale flesh crimson. She did not answer him. In the next few seconds she willed Shido to feel her panic, her alarm. Not so he would come to save her, but so that he would flee.

If there were more of them, then it didn't matter whether she gave Quinlan an answer or not. They would comb the area _and_ search the building for him if they wanted to find Shido badly enough.

Quinlan chuckled at her defiance and leaned forward. He stood on the tips of his toes and licked the trail of blood off her cheek. Remaining close to her ear, he whispered. "Very well then, your answer is not important. At least knowing that Shido does not have anymore children walking the night will make my job that much easier once I kill you."

He leaned back and took one last look at her, "Pity Collin ordered your death. You're pretty. I would have loved to have you as my pet."

Riho looked at him pleadingly, "Please…"

Quinlan's smile widened, "yes, beg me."

Riho tried to struggle but to no avail. She just shook her head, fresh tears falling from her golden eyes and repeated her plea, "Please don't…" Quinlan raised the blade over his opposite shoulder with his right hand and brought it down in one clean swoop.

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Cain watched the area from the treetops, shrouded in the stormy evening darkness. He pulled the shadows from the trees below him, wrapping them around himself with his aura of power, making himself completely invisible to the naked eye. Observing silently, he could see them.

Moving faster than the human eye could follow, from shadow to shadow, in the streets, the park, the alleyways.

Vampires.

So, they would wait no longer. He knew it wouldn't take them long, but he hadn't anticipated reaching his love with their attack nearly upon them. He would have to be quick. Shido would not give himself up easily.

Before he could leap down from his perch atop the trees he felt a vague stabbing pain in his chest and froze. He turned his gaze sharply in the direction of Shido's building. No… he could still sense Shido inside, unharmed. Then what…?

He brought his gaze down to the trees and knew at once. In all his years as one of the undead Cain had made only one child of darkness and he was as of yet unharmed… but Shido had made his own daughter of darkness. A Nightwalker of Cain's line who had inherited his blood and power.

The connection was there and although weaker than if he had made her himself, he could feel a diluted sense of her pain… her death. He cursed. Although the girl meant nothing to him, Shido had cared enough for her to give the child immortality so she would not die… he was her Maker. Shido would feel the pain of her death with much more potency than he…

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Shido gasped, clutching at the cloth over his heart and collapsed into his chair with wide eyes. 'Riho…' He didn't know how he knew, he just knew. She was in danger… dying. The room darkened all of a sudden and Shido heard his named called from out of that darkness by a voice he'd sooner hope to forget.

Cain emerged from the shadows with an all too familiar charismatic smile and approached the desk behind which Shido was seated. "I've come for you, Shido."

Shido glared at him and opened his mouth to spit the usual retort when it struck him. "What've you done to Riho?"

Cain was anticipating that, "As much as I would love to take credit for her death, it is not I who have brought the girl to her knees. The others have her and we must leave quickly, before they find us as well."

Shido only glared suspiciously, "What 'others'? What are you talking about!" Cain's perpetual smile began to falter. He did not want to have this conversation here and now. There was too much to be said with too little time… he would try to be brief.

"Other vampires, Shido. They have gathered in this area with the intention to kill you and the girl."

Shido's eyes widened, "It can't be… but what reason would they have…" He frowned, "You're lying to me." Cain walked around his desk to stand in front of him, prompting Shido to stand in order to face what he saw as a threat.

Cain sighed inwardly, "You can taste the truth in my words. I've simply come to get you out of here before they reach you," and he smiled, reaching out a hand to Shido's face. "My love for you is no less potent now than it was 300 years ago, my Shido."

Shido smacked the hand away. "Quit saying that! I don't belong to…" Shido staggered as the pain over his heart redoubled, clutching his shirt tighter and nearly tripping over the chair behind him. Cain frowned outright when he felt the jolt himself, and reached out to steady him.

He held him close against his chest and Shido was in too much pain to resist. "I have to save her…" Cain swallowed his anger. Even after Shido accepted what he had told him as truth, his thoughts were still on _her_.

"The girl is lost. They are our kind, they will know how to kill her and you cannot save her in the condition you are in."

Shido grasped onto Cain's arms and when he next opened his eyes, they were no longer human, but amber slits over a pale face. "I… feel something…"

Cain brought his gaze downward, as if seeing straight through the floor to the lobby below. "They're in the building." Shido uttered a strangled cry and Cain brought a single finger under his chin to lift his gaze. Shido was leaning so heavily on the blonde vampire that if Cain should let go, he would collapse where he stood.

One amber gaze met the other and Cain answered the question in those eyes. "It hurts because your connection to your only daughter of darkness as her Maker is sending you her pain." Shido clenched his eyes shut and tried to push away but Cain's hold on him was like steel.

Cain couldn't help but think how convenient the girl's plight was for him. This was going to be easier than he thought. Cain smiled lovingly at the vampire he created over 300 years ago and brought the hand from under his chin to cup his cheek. The pain in that face tugged at something within him and Cain frowned inwardly as that something intensified the longer he gazed into the eternally youthful face of the man he loved.

Shido frowned and tried to push away again, "let go…!" The blonde vampire was no longer smiling. Cain brought Shido's gaze back up and captured him with his eyes. Not anticipating it, Shido lost himself in that amber gaze. His eyes went blank and his face slack. "Sleep, Shido. You should not feel it when she slips away."

Shido's eyelids drooped and he fell limply against his former lover. Cain picked him up and turned to the window when the door slammed open. Two vampires hissed when they saw him. Cain turned and his golden eyes lit with hellish fire.

As the two vampires charged into the room, a wind that was all Cain's power swirled about him and launched itself against the two, sending them flying backward through the doorway. They slammed into the wall opposite the office door with a sickening crack of bones and plaster. The window burst open suddenly and Cain turned his back on the intruders as they slid to the ground in a broken heap. As he brought the wind back to him, the shadows he had cast about the room leapt up, swallowed them, and they were gone.

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**Authors Note**: I have never read a NightWalker fanfic in my life, therefore familiar fandom terms, praises, etc. will not pop up unless by complete coincidence. I also apologize up front if this idea has been done. I sure hope not but rest assured I still have every intention of seeing this fic completed even if it has. I only hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.


	3. Part 2

Equilibrium  
By: Lotus-chan

Part 2

Shido stirred. He woke slowly, recognizing first the bed beneath him… he hadn't slept in a bed since…

Shido sat bolt upright and searched his surroundings. He was in the middle of a large, lavishly furnished bedroom. White drapes hung from the four posts of the bed in tasteful swirls. The bed sheets were also white; silk.

He noticed the last remnants of daylight streaming in through the window and falling on his bed. Instinctively, he scooted away from that light. Sometimes Shido _was_ able to withstand the light of day due to his power - so long as it wasn't direct sunlight but… he had not fed today. He would be vulnerable until he did and his only source of willing food, Yayoi, had gone off on an assignment out of the country, taking Guni with her.

"Ah! Master Shido, you're awake." He turned and noticed the girl at the door for the first time. He must really be weak to not have sensed her coming… She was a young thing, wearing a black and white maid uniform. Blonde with her hair in a pony tail and green eyed she couldn't be over twenty years old at best, but… there was something about her that didn't feel quite right.

Even through his weakened senses he knew something was off and immediately his thoughts shifted to Nightbreed. "Who are you? And what is this place? Why am I here?"

Her charming smile widened and she bowed gracefully in greeting. "My name is Rika and I am the personal servant of the Master of the house. You are a guest here." She then noticed the light streaming onto the bed. Her eyes widened and she ran to the window to close the curtain and shut out the light.

Shido scrutinized her in the welcomed darkness. She knew what he was… "Is this Cain's home?"

She turned, "Oh, no," and chuckled. "Heaven knows where Master Cain lives. This is Daemon-sama's manor. You and Master Cain are both my Master's guests." She said cheerfully. 'Guests?' 'Daemon?' What the hell was going on? Shido groaned and held his head in his hands. With the pounding in his head, he couldn't think to make much sense of what she was saying.

She apparently didn't notice his confusion. "I came to check up on you," she began walking toward the bed. "You were quite weak when you arrived, what with the unfortunate death of your daughter of darkness and all. Yours and my Master have been waiting for you to awak..." She stopped cold when the end of Shido's blood sword appeared beneath her chin.

Shido glared at her from a crouching stance on the bed. "What are you? A Nightbreed?"

She looked at him calmly, "I am no 'Nightbreed'. Vampires despise that particular taste. I was a gift to my Master and his gift; his hospitality, to his guests. I am human but carry my Master's bites." Shido sneered at the way she kept saying 'my master'.

It was as if this vampire, as he now took it, expressed ownership over her and she was perfectly ok with that. Shido's vision swam suddenly and he lost control of his sword. It liquefied in his grip and splashed onto the silk sheets. He brought his hand back to his temple as he swayed and Rika rushed up to help steady him. She was all that kept him from falling back onto the bed and that was the only reason he let her touch him.

"W-what did you mean by 'hospitality'?" She smiled again, leaning her head away, exposing her neck.

She placed cool fingers under his chin and brought his gaze to the offering, "you've been without feeding for too long, Master Shido… it's disorienting you. Daemon-sama will not accept that a guest of his goes hungry. Drink." With that final word she moved the hand that was not steadying him behind his head and pushed his lips against her pulse.

Shido's eyes bled to amber as his lips caressed the milky soft skin of her exposed neck. It was so tempting… he gritted his teeth and pulled back, "I refuse. You were most likely ordered to do this. I take nothing from the unwilling."

She blinked, stunned. His eyes were still that startling amber that she recognized from all vampires but he seemed to be fighting that power; that hunger; trying to swallow it back. "Cain-sama was right. He said you might deny me… I didn't believe it then but…"

Shido growled something feral at the name and she gasped, jumping back. His expression softened, "See? You fear me. You don't want to do this."

She managed to smile at him. "I like doing this. I'm as willing as you're going to get, Shido-sama. It's true that my Master ordered me to but he didn't have to. I would do anything to please him. I am here but to ease your hunger Shido-sama. I _want_ to help you. You would know it if I was lying to you." She added the last at his unbelieving expression. The shocking thing was that she was right. He could sense the truth in her words and he was shocked by them.

She smiled serenely, "My Master and Cain-sama wish that you be fed and have your strength returned before you leave the room and I'm only happy to oblige. I would do anything for Daemon-sama." She said it eagerly and the look on her face was almost dreamy.

That's when he knew why she was so willing… she was in love with her Master. He shook his head. Her smile fell. "I hear rumors that the famous Shido, only child of darkness of the great Master Cain, has… a kind heart." She spoke as if she were saying something blasphemous and her gaze kept shifting from his face to the ground and back.

"That he is sympathetic to humans and actually helps them sometimes… sometimes through eliminating more and more of the Nightbreed and that is why they are beginning to fear Tokyo as a stalking ground…" she continued.

He frowned at her through the dizzying haze in his eyes, "What are you getting at?"

She looked off to the side, "If you will not drink of me because you are convinced I'm not willing enough… then do so in order to help me." Both eyebrows rose on that one. "My Master will be upset with me if I was unable to carry out an order of his… it doesn't matter what the circumstance. I don't want to upset or disappoint him," she looked up at him then, into his eyes and said, "please?"

Being able to meet his gaze without falling into it wasn't what surprised him… she was asking, almost begging to be bitten by him. A little voice in the back of his mind screamed that she was willing enough, that he couldn't fight the hunger forever, and that was all it took.

With all control gone Shido leaned in and pulled her head back to one side almost violently. Exposing his fangs he bit into the skin of her neck and drank as if he hadn't done so since he died. A blush crept over the maid's cheeks and she held onto him as he fed.

As his power rushed over her, growing steadily stronger second by second she arched her back slightly, pressing into him. The sensation of being bitten was almost sexual and very intoxicating; a rush that was almost addictive…

Shido reveled in the sensation of being filled again. Not just with blood but with power, with _life_. Drinking of her life restored every last of his senses and with their renewed strength, he finally felt the presence that had been hiding just outside the door.

He snapped his head up from her neck. Blood stained the side of his mouth from the movement that was so quick it was almost violent. Rika cried out but Shido ignored her. His amber eyes flashed as he glared through the wall next to the door. "Stop playing with me and show yourself."

Cain stepped into the door frame and leaned only slightly against it, grinning at Shido from the other side of the room. Shido growled at him, "You were there all this time…"

Rika blinked slightly dazed eyes at the vampire that held her and brought a hand to Shido's cheek, cocking her neck to the side. She looked at him as if wondering what was wrong or why he had stopped. Cain frowned at her, "Your job is done, human. Return to your Master and leave us alone."

Shido snapped, "her name is Rika, not 'human'." Rika's eyes widened as she witnessed his display of disrespect. She drew away from him by herself slowly, as if Shido were something dangerous that might explode at any moment. "You really do defy your Master…"

Shido's anger turned to her, "he is NOT my Master!" She gasped and brought a hand over her mouth as if she hadn't meant to. She bowed quickly and almost ran from the room. Shido was about to apologize when she disappeared through the doorway. He hadn't meant to snap at her.

When he looked at Cain, he expected to find Cain angry but the expression he wore was very amused. Cain looked at Shido out of the corner of his eye, relaxing against the doorframe with his arms crossed. Other vampires might've leaned more or even slouched but there was something Shido had always acknowledged about Cain, no matter how grudgingly, and that was that Cain could give even the slightest of movements grace.

He swept the thought aside. This was no time to admire his casual grace... or his irritating smirk, or that annoying perpetual air of superiority… he smirked inwardly at the direction his thoughts were taking, 'much better…'

"Others in the vampire community are not accustomed to seeing a lesser vampire show such rudeness to his Master, Shido. You should display a little more respect towards me."

Shido scoffed, "I give respect where it's earned."

Cain raised his eyebrows slightly, "and after all that I have done for you, have I not earned it yet?"

Shido's eyes widened, "'all that you have done for me'? How about all that you have done _to_ me? Respect is the last thing you've earned from me, Cain!" Cain stepped into the room suddenly and the door slammed closed behind him.

Shido quickly got off the bed and raised his guard for what was to come. Cain's smile was completely gone by the time he walked up to stand in front of Shido. Shido struggled not to take a step back once he was so close. Cain noted Shido's tension. Breathing in, he captured the very faint, underlying sent of hesitation, anger, fear.

It made him lose grip on his anger and he sighed internally, "Why, Shido? Why do you continue to deny me? What have I done that is so horrible; so unforgivable?"

Shido's eyes were wide with indignant disbelief. "You actually have the nerve to ask? You ruined my life, Cain! You stole everything from me that made me a worthwhile human being and turned me into a monster! It is because of you that I have become a parasite of human kind; that I have to steal from them the very life that I wanted to preserve. All just to keep myself from becoming the vision of a nightmarish corpse!"

Cain's eyes flashed, "We are far from parasites. We are gods! Human beings are here only to serve our purposes and to be given the gift of new life as our kind if they are deemed so worthy of it."

"Is that what I was to you back then as well, Cain?" Shido was speaking with a low, dangerous voice. Cain could feel the anger in his words but there was an undercurrent of some repressed emotion in his voice that he couldn't discern. "Were you merely playing with your food? Until, of course, you thought of me as amusing enough to be deemed 'worthy' of your 'gift'?" he spat.

Cain's frown deepened. He knew mockery when he heard it… but there was more to this than what was on the surface. "I gave you this gift out of love, Shido."

Shido laughed, and it was dark and bitter. "This is hardly the sort of thing you do to someone you love, Cain." He glared into those amber eyes he had learned to hate and growled, "You are inhuman. I am sick of seeing you, sick of being chased by you and hearing your bullshit time and again. I am sick of your arrogance, of your lack of compassion, your… ungh!"

Cain reached out and grabbed Shido's throat, silencing him. Shido glared defiantly back. He could have called a weapon of blood to him at any moment but he didn't. He merely waited to see what Cain's next move would be. For long moments, Cain seemed unable to do anything but glare at his only child of darkness. Feeling the smooth alabaster skin beneath his tight grip; skin paled by centuries deprived of the sun.

Cain's hand relaxed, and the grip that could've crushed Shido's neck with a flick of his wrist eased into something resembling a caress. Shido was thrown by the sudden change and caught completely off-guard when Cain leaned in and licked the forgotten trail of blood from the side of his mouth, then moved to place a gentle kiss over his lips.

Shido panicked and pushed him away with enough force to put a normal human being through a wall. Cain let him and merely took a step back, perfectly composed. "I can see we will get nowhere at the moment. You are far too excited to continue this conversation."

He turned around and began walking towards the door. "Do not worry, we are safe here. This place will buy us time but I would suggest you at least go downstairs and meet with your host. He was generous enough to offer his home despite the danger we pose to him. What you think of me is irrelevant."

Shido huffed. He did _not_ like being treated like a child. "You talk like you actually expect me to stay."

Cain paused at the door without turning to look at him. He frowned to himself, gripped the door handle tightly and forced the words out. "I have never stolen anything from you. Those characteristics of yours, those that made you so very human, they were what I hoped to preserve by giving you the gift of eternity."

He walked a little ways out and glanced at Shido over his shoulder, "You remember your past now, do you not?" Shido's eyes were widening and Cain nodded. "Then you should remember that I gave you a choice. You cannot blame me for the decision you made. As much as I love you, I will not play the thief so that your conscience can rest easy."

As the door slowly closed behind him, Shido stood there in the rapidly increasing darkness, struck not only by Cain's words but by the difference in Cain's entire demeanor. He collapsed to the floor, and stared wordlessly at the ground. Several hours passed before Shido would emerge from his room.

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As Cain walked down the halls of the old manor, he took in nothing of his odd surroundings. The western style manor on the outskirts of Tokyo was an old relic of post Meiji Reconstruction but Daemon had never told him how he'd come to acquire it. Despite how nostalgic it made him feel, it could no longer distract him from the reason he'd taken refuge in it's ancient walls.

No… his thoughts were on the vampire he'd just spoken to. That one dark angel that had forever captured his love, his mind, his obsession. That one object of his desire he could no longer allow replace him with the company of humans. He should've never allowed it to happen in the first place. He should've never let him leave. But a moments weakness born of a secret guilt had betrayed him… had he really driven Shido away? He sighed and this time, he did so openly. "I'll try love first, oneesama… but if that doesn't work…"

"Talking to yourself again, Cain?" Cain turned his head and faced the owner of that voice. Without realizing it, he'd wondered down the stairs and into the lounge where his host sat before a lit fireplace, petting a rather large crow. Daemon looked at him with his strikingly deep blue eyes and smiled secretively. He spoke with Cain's accent and was a rather young vampire who'd apparently died somewhere around sixteen. His was the palest skin Cain had ever seen and it drew a striking contrast with his short black hair.

The boy was the epitome of vampiric beauty, and just as powerful despite being only fifty years older than Shido himself. He was going to be a power to be reckoned with once he became a Master. Cain's attention however, was not drawn to that ethereal beauty but to the crow on his lap. His face twisted into something resembling dignified disgust, "Must you insist on bringing them into the house?" He asked casually, implying that despite his curiosity, the answer wasn't all that important.

The crow's bright red eyes flashed in Cain's direction and it's anger was evident in the light growl that shook it's small body. Daemon turned to it with that same smile and shushed it, petting it gently. It calmed quickly and leaned into the caress. Daemon's smile widened just slightly and he brushed aside the bangs that had fallen into his face. "The nightbreed serve their purpose for me. There's no reason I can't show them a little gratitude."

"Hn," was Cain's only reply. Daemon looked up and the too-long bangs shifted back into his eyes.

"So, will I be meeting the love of your life soon? Or do you think he is plotting his escape as we speak."

Cain shook his head slightly and looked back up the stairs, "not unless he's a fool. No… if I know him well, he'll be down soon enough."

He turned to leave and Daemon watched him but just as the blond vampire was at the door, "Cain." Cain turned and addressed him by raising a single delicate eyebrow. Daemon smiled gently, "I'm glad I was finally able to help you in return."

Cain felt a frown tug at the edges of his face but he masked them with a casual indifference. 'You shouldn't smile like that', he thought. 'It doesn't suit you'. Instead of speaking his mind however, Cain nodded graciously, and left. Daemon's smile crumbled once the other vampire was out of sight.

The crow shook it's feathers and glared after the blonde Master. "Shall I kill him for you?" it said expectantly.

Daemon took the crow's cheeks into his hands and carefully pulled its gaze upward. The blue-eyed vampire's face was unreadable and his voice gentle but the threat in it was unmistakable. "Ask me again, and it will be you who dies."

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A few hours later Shido walked silently down the hall outside his room until the curtains of an open window brushed against him. He let the cool late summer breeze pull him closer and looked out of the window to the cityscape before him. Tokyo gleamed in the distance. Thousands of tiny lights sparkling in the modernized jewel of Japan. It was a city he'd grown to love… and he should've known better.

With Cain rapt up in his life again it was likely he'd be forced to leave. To run again and leave all of the places and people, however few, that he'd developed a fondness for. Yayoi and Guni… "Riho…" He leaned against the window sill and buried his face in his hand. If only he hadn't let her leave. If only he'd insisted she stay indoors… He choked back a sob and his body trembled with the force of his grief.

She was yet another innocent death he was responsible for … and he couldn't bare the thought of it. He wiped at his eyes with his hand before any tears could fall and tried to compose himself. It wouldn't due to get caught showing such weakness… especially by Cain. He would mourn her properly once he was free of all of this again. Free of him. He looked out the window again and this time his gaze was on the grounds of the manor.

He squinted and from his second floor vantage point, he could see a garden in the darkness. His human eyes weren't as good as his vampiric ones but he never called to his darkness unless he had to. The garden was large and empty and seemed like as good a place as any to be alone. Shido moved away from the window and down a flight of stairs to the first floor. He entered what appeared to be a lounge and saw, on the other side of a set of ornate glass double doors, the garden.

Before he could head towards them, a voice called out to him. Shido turned and saw a dark haired boy sitting on one of the sofas in the lounge. Rika was standing next to him with a small bandage on her neck, holding a serving dish with two wine glasses. The boy smiled and beckoned him over. "You must be Shido, I was expecting you."

Shido frowned slightly. He hadn't noticed him… He darted one last glance towards the garden but decided to accept the boy's invitation. The boy stood and bowed politely. "My name is Daemon, I'm pleased to finally meet you."

Shido bowed back. "Tatsuhiko Shido."

Daemon smiled and gestured to the sofa in front of him, "please sit."

Shido sat and took the offered glass from Rika. She smiled at him and bowed herself out, the former misunderstanding between them apparently forgotten. Shido looked back at the boy and asked, "How did you know I was coming?"

Daemon swirled the small amount of what was obviously blood in his glass as if it were a fine wine and said, "You might say I could sense it," he looked up, "don't tell me you've never been able to sense the presence of other creatures like yourself."

Shido didn't blink. He could certainly 'sense' where this was headed. "Only the nightbreed. I'm not all that accustomed to what other vampires feel like yet… other than Cain." He didn't mind admitting it. Besides, he knew that if he could smell a lie, it was likely that so could his host.

Daemon nodded, "So it's true. You really weren't aware that more of us existed."

"If you don't mind," Shido began before the conversation could go anywhere else, "would you explain to me what's going on and why I am here?" Daemon nodded and Shido took a sip of his drink, drawing back almost immediately when he realized the blood was still warm.

He looked back to his host, who had noticed his reaction. Daemon only smiled, "Cain brought you here because I offered my home as a safe place for the two of you to hide until things could be sorted out. You're basically here however, because every vampire in Tokyo will be after your blood."

Shido frowned, "why?"

"Because you have defied our laws." Daemon answered as if it should be the most obvious thing in the world. "You have abandoned and disrespected your Master. You have denied his attempts to call you back to him. You're basically out of control and must either be forced back under your Master's power or put to death."

Shido glared, "You say that as if I were no more important than a dog."

Daemon chuckled, "well, unless Cain says otherwise, you're exactly right. A vampire is nothing nor can he do anything without his Master's permission."

"Cain is not my Master." Shido said warningly. He was growing quite tired of having to repeat it.

Daemon raised an eyebrow, "I think were you any other vampire and Cain any other Master, you would die just for saying that. Cain has been very merciful and very generous with his patience to tolerate that sort of behavior from you."

"Cain is not my Master," Shido repeated slowly, enunciating every word carefully as if Daemon was particularly dim or hard of hearing. "He is a thorn in my side, one I want nothing more than to be rid of."

Daemon's expression at that point was decidedly unreadable. His gaze almost seemed distant when he next spoke; his voice soft. "Then you would have to kill him."

Shido frowned slowly. He didn't like where this conversation had ended up and decided to tread cautiously. "Why do you say so?"

Something flickered in his expression, too fast for Shido to catch. The aura of Daemon's power was changing… Daemon was uncomfortable for some reason, and that aura of unease was beginning to slip through the blue-eyed vampire's control. "Because Cain will not stop pursuing you until the day you are his again."

Daemon's gaze refocused on his guest and he said, "That day may very well be today, or tomorrow. You see, Cain won't allow the others to harm you. He may give you the illusion of choice but the truth is that there is no time left for him to risk you running from him again. You will either return to him by choice, or by force. It is not a question of if, merely how."

Shido glared venomously, "The hell it is. I will not have my life run for me."

Daemon smiled condescendingly and shook his head. "You are not powerful enough to make decisions like that yet and until you are, your Master, _Cain_," he emphasized, "will indeed be doing with you as he pleases. A lesser vampire simply cannot go gallivanting about, pretending to be his own Master. It's a good way to get both you and Cain killed."

Shido's glare weakened somewhat in confusion. 'A lesser vampire?' Now, he may not have had much practice gauging another vampire's power but over a hundred years in Cain's company had taught him to read the older vampire well. If Shido was correctly applying what he'd learned with Cain to Daemon then…

Daemon couldn't possibly be any older than Shido himself. Shido felt that power that leaked from him brushing along his skin and he breathed it in, rolling it in his mind. The little hypocrite was talking like he was a Master when he and Shido were on about the same level. If what he was saying was true, then Daemon had to be playing servant to a Master himself.

"Where's your Master then," Shido retorted.

"Dead." Daemon answered simply. "Speaking of which, I must express my condolences on behalf of your own vampire. I understand she was killed only a few hours ago."

Shido was _not_ impressed by his false sentiments. "Cain tell you about that?"

"Naturally," he replied casually.

Shido watched Daemon sip his drink, his glare intensifying. He could feel the air of confidence and indifference surrounding the other boy like a physical weight on his senses and it irritated him. "How do you know Cain?"

That made Daemon smile. "We go back quite a long way... After the death of my Master, Cain was kind enough to assume that position over me and instruct me in our ways." Daemon was smiling to himself and Shido raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

"Oh?"

Daemon glanced at him over the rim of his wine glass, grinning. "Yes, we spent a great deal of time together. This would have been after you abandoned him about 200 years ago." Shido's frown intensified. Daemon paused to take a sip and said almost to himself, "A lesser vampire abandoning his Master…" he shook his head, "Such a thing is unheard of."

Daemon returned his gaze to Shido and his perpetual smile was curiously absent. "There are vampires who would kill and worse to have a Master of Cain's greatness, power, beauty…" He was shaking his head, "really, I'm surprised … you should be dead." Shido was getting so upset he thought he might break the glass in his hand. For no more reason than to avoid making a mess, he set the wine glass on the table between them.

Ignoring the previous comment, he decided to get back to the matter at hand, "I'm still not quite sure I understand what's happening. Why should anyone else care what I do?" Shido was forcing himself to be polite. He really wanted nothing more than to get up and leave… that or throttle the little brat, but as long as they were pretending to be civil with each other, he might as well squeeze as much information out of the kid as possible.

Daemon sighed slightly, "The laws we follow are ancient. We do not question them, we merely obey and police our own. Without this, there would be chaos. It has always been this way."

Shido raised an eyebrow, "and yet you don't seem to be following these laws, as I understand them, either." Daemon gave him an innocent look. It almost made Shido laugh. "If your laws say that I should be killed for leaving Cain, then why aren't you trying to kill me too? What do you have to gain from helping me?"

The expression his host gave him, was a bored one. "Who ever said I was doing this for you?" Shido blinked, suddenly taken aback. Daemon took another sip and his gaze lingered on the blood in his glass as he spoke. "I owe Cain a debt of gratitude for what he did for me. If he hadn't taken me in when he did … Well, I am grateful enough to take any risk for him, even bending our laws if necessary to please him."

Daemon stopped and gave Shido a sidelong glare, "Your insolence has placed Cain in danger. Those who hunt you will hunt him as well. Helping him now, during such an important time, is my way of repaying him. Although I could never hope to match his greatness, it is the least I could do."

Shido crossed his arms and returned the glare. "That doesn't answer my first question. You may feel obligated to help Cain, but I have no guarantee for my safety in this place because you don't owe me anything. I can't know that you won't take advantage of a prime opportunity to get me out of your way…"

Shido placed emphasis on last few words. He was getting a sinking suspicion about Daemon and wanted to see if he would take the bait.

His host sighed heavily and put his glass down. When Daemon's gaze returned to him it was the bored blankness he had seen before but something had flashed behind Daemon's eyes a moment before they made eye contact. Something, Shido was shocked to realize, that closely resembled defeat.

"Cain's favor and happiness is all that matters to me but, unfortunately, all of that lies within you. Securing even a fraction of that means having to protect him and all that he loves ..." Daemon's gaze narrowed and Shido could feel the intensity of the power in that gaze pressing into the back of his mind. He expected a threat, a warning, anything from his host except the words he spoke next. "As long as you remain within this house, Shido, I swear no harm will come to you."

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Collin stood over a pile of rubble outside the front door to Shido's detective agency. His eyes were closed, ignoring the sobs of the other vampire at his feet. His senses spread through the building, coating every wall in an invisible cloud of dark energy. He could not yet become the shadows, but with concentration it was still possible to sense them and obtain the knowledge they offered.

Body after body met his senses and the bloodied remains of the building's occupants reassured him that he and his coven were alone. "You make yourself vulnerable doing that, Collin." The owner of that voice stopped a few feet behind him, her footsteps as quiet as only those of the truly old dead could be.

Collin opened his eyes and addressed Callista without turning around. "Would you prefer I risk blindly trusting these bumbling idiots to do their job and then have the human authorities rain down on us like a pack of ravening wolves because we missed somebody?"

Callista crossed her arms and stepped up beside him, "You know, you could've just asked me." She said with a slight frown and glanced down at the mess at her feet.

One of the vampires that had attacked Cain was still there. The blood that seeped from the head wound soaked the wood and plaster red and still managed to create a large pool around the body. Some ironic twist of fate had caused the vampire to land on a splintered piece of wood. The vampire lay impaled over it; accidentally staked.

The sobbing was coming from another member of the coven, crouching over the body, mourning the loss of her companion.

A chunk of plaster falling away from the cracks drew Callista's gaze upward. The hole in the wall was impressive and she realized that this had been done almost negligibly. Cain had barely wasted any effort, brushing their vampires aside like so much garbage, and it had done this much damage. She felt the beginnings of fear stir in the pit of her stomach. Their young vampires were no more than gnats bating at the face of a god.

Collin noticed the subtle change in her aura as her gaze moved over the carnage. "This was a freak accident, Callista. The other one was fine after he fed. We are not about to be defeated by such a small show of power."

"That is exactly what worries me, my love. That this was only a fraction of what a Master like Cain is capable of." Callista found his gaze and held it. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

It happened so fast she didn't realize what hit her until her body slammed into the opposite wall. Callista felt the blood trickling from the cut on her lip and brought a hand to her face. The little bastard had smacked her! She felt the growing hostility in the air and she answered it with a flare of white hot anger that filled the hallway and matched that of her Master's.

The sobbing vampire choked back her cries and clutched at her throat like it was suddenly difficult to breathe. She got up awkwardly, and stumbled away from them as quickly as she could.

Collin's eyes were glowing a brilliant amber and his rage filled his voice when he spoke. "Don't you _dare_ assume that you can question my decisions!" Callista got up slowly, growling. Her hand twitched and her finger nails shot forward, growing long and dagger-like in anticipation of battle.

"Collin!"

The voice was young. It came down the hall along with a flurry of loud footsteps and Collin straightened but his gaze stayed with Callista.

Quinlan stopped a few feet away, breathing like he'd just run a marathon. It was so unlike him that Collin's anger quieted and he raised an eyebrow. Quinlan looked from one to the other and smiled sheepishly, "I didn't interrupt anything did I?"

Callista straightened, her claws retracting, and smiled inwardly. The crafty little brat had broken up their fight on purpose. Said 'little brat' looked at Callista and smiled with that little boy charm she _knew_ he'd lost 200 years ago. At least he was doing his job… but the innocent mask might've been too much. She glanced at Collin out of the corner of her eye and realized he hadn't noticed. Her smile turned sinister.

"What is it? Have you dealt with the girl?" Collin asked. Quinlan grinned and raised what was in his hand. The long red pony-tail bounced in his grip, still giving off that healthy shine that came with a lifetime of care. It was splashed in places with deeper red stains, rapidly drying to a crusty brown. Bits of scalp still clung to the roots.

"Can I keep it?" he asked enthusiastically.

Collin grinned at his subordinate and his trophy. "If you like. Did you learn anything of value from the girl before she died?"

At this Quinlan frowned. "She was stubborn, more than I thought she'd be, but there wasn't much information to be had. She was Shido's only daughter of darkness. That is all I know."

Collin reached out a hand and touched the boy's cheek, smearing the blood on it. Quinlan was completely drenched in Riho's blood. Collin kneeled and leaned in until he was an inch away from Quinlan's other cheek, close enough to kiss. He breathed in the scent of the girl's blood, recognizing Cain's and another alien scent that could only be Shido's. He smirked secretively and pulled back. "You have done well, today."

Callista wrinkled her nose at the display. "Go clean up, Quinlan. You'll draw attention to yourself if you go walking around, drenched in that weakling's blood."

Quinlan was about to go when Collin's voice stopped him, "No Quinlan, I was counting on your violent streak for this. I want you just like that a little while longer." He got up and turned so that Quinlan noticed the mess on the floor for the first time.

The boy raised an eyebrow, "Why did you send Zoran after them? He was only 90 years dead. There was no question who would win."

Collin smirked down at the body after hearing that. "No there was no question what the outcome would be but Zoran was disposable. The important thing is that Cain came to Shido's rescue."

Callista didn't try hiding her confusion, "You do not trust me, my love. Otherwise you would've explained what is going on." Collin laughed.

"Of course I don't trust you. If I did, I'd likely be dead by now." He grinned at her, "but that is part of your attraction." She grinned back and it was honest. Collin moved his gaze towards the inside of Shido's office/apartment. He watched as his vampires pulled Shido's coffin from it's hiding place, smashing it and whatever else they found to bits. "I know you are worried that our vampires are too young to face a Master of Cain's caliber but do not fear.

"Once we have Shido, we'll have all we need to cripple Cain enough so that even the newly dead would be a match for him..." His eyes began to glow again but this time it was excitement and anticipation that filled them. "… and now I know where they are."

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A/N: Hi there! I'm very happy with how this last update turned out, though I thought I should tell anyone reading that the next update may not happen for a couple weeks. There are some things I gotta take care of that will get in the way of my writing. But! No worries, this fic is my baby and I will see it through to the end.

I also wanna thank Kayla Silvermoon, Darkmaster2, Horyuu1, Nitara, and Silverwyvern for their reviews. I always appreciate the C&C. Arigatou minna!


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